Cast hails Coen brothers in Hail, Caesar! featurette

The Coen brothers’ latest film, Hail, Caesar!, promises to take viewers inside a classic Old Hollywood movie studio. In the style of previous Coen films, Hail, Caesar! looks to take a relatively simple plot — movie star Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) is kidnapped and held for ransom by a mysterious organization — and infuse it with all kinds of black humor, irony, and period commentary. In a new featurette, the star-studded cast — many of whom are Coen brothers vets — talked about their experiences working on the new film.

“It’s fun to come in and do the golden era of Hollywood, the glamor of it, and the behind-the-scenes deep dark truth of everything,” said Scarlett Johansson, who plays a bathing beauty. “Working with the Coens, they kind of let you play on set.”

Some of the stars interviewed, like Clooney, have trouble describing Hail, Caesar! as anything other than “a Coen brothers film,” but others took a stab at defining how it fits the brothers’ aesthetic.

“There’s an intelligence about their scripts and their characters,” Ralph Fiennes said. “There’s kind of an underlying humorous delight at the comedy of humankind.”